Even Andrea Mitchell Rips Obama Over Immigration Crisis

In an interview with White House adviser Cecilia Munoz on her Wednesday
12 p.m. ET hour show, MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell actually tore into the
President's poor handling of the immigration crisis and his refusal to
visit the border: "...the reality is that the White House has been slow to react.
And that there is something to be said for presidential optics, if you
will, for presidential appearances, that's part of leadership, is it
not?" [Listen to the audio]

Moments earlier, Munoz tried to argue that there were "a whole host of
activities" being undertaken by the administration to "make sure that we
stay ahead of the situation." Mitchell interrupted her: "But
you're not ahead of the situation. With all due respect, the reality on
the ground is that the administration did not stay ahead of this."

Mitchell played a sound bite from Texas Democratic Congressman Henry
Cuellar, whom she had interviewed in the previous segment, blasting
Obama for not visiting the border: "The optics and the substance of it
is that he should show up at the border. He can just look aloof and
detached and not go to the border, send surrogates down there and say
that he's got everything under control."

Turning back to Munoz, Mitchell declared: "...leadership does involve
showing the concern....And people are asking, including this Democratic
congressman, one of your own members, why he is looking so aloof, and
why ever he decided to play pool last night in Colorado."

Munoz claimed: "At the end of the day, he's less concerned about optics
and more concerned about substance and more concerned about impact."

Mitchell observed: "Well, so far the politics aren't working
and the substance isn't working, given the flow [of illegal immigrants].
And so, somebody's got to revisit this."

As she continued, she sympathized with Munoz:

I know that your unfortunate job is to say what has been done, but
what has been done so far has not stemmed the flow. And you can say it –
you know, the White House can say it all they want, but at some point,
people are going to ask, and right now your own Democrats on the Hill
are asking, why this was permitted to happen, to get to this stage.

Here are excerpts of the July 9 exchange:

12:14 PM ET

ANDREA MITCHELL: And as we just mentioned, President Obama is in Texas
today, or he will be shortly, raising money for the midterms, but he
will not bow to pressure we're told, including, as we just heard, from
his own party, to visit the border.

Joining me now is White House domestic policy council director Cecilia
Munoz. Thank you very much for joining us. I don't know if you just
heard Congressman [Henry] Cuellar [D-TX], I can recap it for you, but he
said that the President looks like he's disengaged. He decried the
optics of him shooting pool and drinking beer in Colorado last night
when he's not going a couple of hundred miles from either Austin or
Dallas to the border or to visit with the children who are being held on
a military base in detention centers.

CECILIA MUNOZ: So I would just point out, the President has been
engaged, in fact, engaged the entirety of the federal government way
back in May, when it became clear that the pattern of migration this
year was going to be very different compared to previous years. On June
1st, he announced that he would be asking FEMA to coordinate the
Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, the Department of
Homeland Security, and HHS to step up an effort to make sure that we
were managing the situation properly. There's a whole host of activities
that have taken place since then to make sure that we stay ahead of the
situation.

MITCHELL: But you're not ahead of the situation. With all due respect,
the reality on the ground is that the administration did not stay ahead
of this. That it should have been before May, before June. There were
months where this was building up. And the impression – the reality is
that the White House has been slow to react. And that there is something
to be said for presidential optics, if you will, for presidential
appearances, that's part of leadership, is it not?

MUNOZ: Well, so, leadership is really about making sure that we're
being effective in managing the situation...Stemming this migration,
stemming the tide. Making sure that we make it clear to parents who are
considering putting their children in the hands of smugglers because the
smugglers are misleading them and telling them that they can expect the
ability to stay once they get in the United States, that this is false.
And that this is an incredibly dangerous journey.

(...)

MITCHELL: The reality, though, is, according to our own reporting from
Stephanie Gosk in Honduras and then Guatemala, is that the message that
is getting through to these kids in some of the most dangerous places
on Earth is that if you get to the States, you can stay. You can stay at
least long enough to go through the deportation process. That it can
take a year, it can take two years.

I know today that the Justice Department, the deputy attorney general
has taken steps to try to speed this up, to throw more money at it, but
at the same time, that's not the message that's getting to them south of
the border. And you've got a crisis on the border. Let me just play
what a Democratic congressman from Texas just moments ago told me.

REP. HENRY CUELLAR [D-TX]: The optics and the substance of it is that
he should show up at the border. He can just look aloof and detached and
not go to the border, send surrogates down there and say that he's got
everything under control.

MITCHELL: I mean, I know the White House can say he's not going to
just play politics with this, but leadership does involve showing the
concern. He went to – with Hurricane Sandy, he went and met with Chris
Christie and showed his concern for the Jersey shore. And people are
asking, including this Democratic congressman, one of your own members,
why he is looking so aloof, and why ever he decided to play pool last
night in Colorado.

MUNOZ: So, the President spoke in the Rose Garden about the situation
more than a week ago. He has spoken about the situation on national
television, and he's mobilized all of the federal government. At the end
of the day, he's less concerned about optics and more concerned about
substance and more concerned about impact.

(...)

MITCHELL: Well, so far the politics aren't working and the substance
isn't working, given the flow. And so, somebody's got to revisit this. I
know that your unfortunate job is to say what has been done, but what
has been done so far has not stemmed the flow. And you can say it – you
know, the White House can say it all they want, but at some point,
people are going to ask, and right now your own Democrats on the Hill
are asking, why this was permitted to happen, to get to this stage.

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